Our Artifact

This is the screwdriver that Mr.Lorne, the blacksmith, made for us.   It's fancy!

Burnaby Village Museum

It's sometime in the 19th century, and  we've headed to the local blacksmith to have a screwdriver made. 

After heating a piece of metal, Mr. Lorne, the blacksmith, hammers the tip into shape on his anvil. Coal heats the fire. 

Colin, what's the difference between coal and coke?

Lucky Mira got to hammer a piece of plasticine, which is apparently the same softness as the super-hot metal. 

We moved into the old movie theatre to learn about the power of steam. Mr. Lorne said, "Steam power changed everything in the world."  How?

Here's a model of a steam engine. 

Here's the real thing!

One bucket of water creates 1,604 buckets of steam, so no wonder steam power was popular. 

Look on the roof to see what it creates when we pull the cord for the roof-top steam whistle.  

After lunch, it was time for our academics at Seaforth School. Fast forward to 1925.

 

Back then, children were seen and not heard, so the class was very quiet. Miss Sheehan, our teacher, ran a tight ship. You had to stand to the right of your desk to ask or answer a question.  You had to stand in the corner with your nose and toes touching the wall if you misbehaved!

The children sat in boy-girl order, and they filed out of the room silently for recess.  Outside, we could let loose playing marbles, skipping ropes, and walking on stilts. 

Go Miles!

Then back to work learning penmanship with a fountain pen.  Left-handed children were forced to use their right hands back then. Miss Sheehan didn't impose that on Matteo. 

Here's Tosh, writing methodically. 

Here's Ms. Munro inadvertently taking a selfie while trying to manage her umbrella. It was rainy, and teachers are often seen juggling several items at once. 

What a wonderful experience today was. Thank you so very much to Sandra, Silvija, Hamish, Bhavjit, Dino, and Marie for driving, and to Iman's mum for joining us too. 

Heeeeeeere's Lucas!

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield says that the arts are every bit as important for learning as math and science. Lucas' experiment was a testament to that.

Lucas was very well set up. 

And he demonstrated a confluence of math, music, and science: the type of sound produced by each glass depended on the amount of water in each.  There's so much vocabulary to go with this experiment: pitch, timbre, sound volume, liquid volume, sound waves, vessel, and on and on. 

Just to hype up the class even more on this already busy day, I brought my sister Mary for sharing.  She was visiting from Victoria.  We loved that there were two Ms Munros for the afternoon.  Here's a picture of us when we were 5 and 10. Who's who?

An action-packed Thursday

You could feel the excitement in the classroom on April 17 because there was much to make us giddy.   First, we went to Loutet to identify seeds, look for growing plants, and eat some fresh kale. 

Did you know kale can turn your tongue green?  That is an awesome special effect. 

We love Loutet rain or shine. Special thanks to Ms Schnetzler for bringing my boots. 😘

Well, we followed that up with our last gymnastics lesson. Erin has been a fantastic instructor with boundless enthusiasm. 

Lucas rounded our day off (pun intended) with an excellent demonstration of how different levels of water in glasses affect sound.  Super job, Lucas. 

Finally, the water ballon throwing day arrived!,,

Thanks to Ella for taking great pictures!!

Evan and the amazing air pressure experiment

Evan surprised us by presenting an experiment that helped us understand the amount of air pressure all around us that we can't see. He presented with confidence, a clear voice, and a good sense of the audience. Well done Evan!

More gymnastics

Colin rolling backwards

Caleb